2013-10-28

MEDIEVAL BOHUSLÄN: On the history of place names

ON THE HISTORY OF PLACE NAMES

My previous posts (part 1 and 2) have been concerned with a
castle ruin called Karlsborg, to the south of Hamburgsund. I have tried to put
this rather unexplored ruin into a historical and economic context. More
questions have been raised than answered by my investigations, and it is
necessary to further explore this castle using both microscopic and macroscopic
forms of research. Today, we will be investigating the historic place names of
Bohuslän in general, in order to see what this information might tell us about
the context of Karlsborg.

The use of place names in historical
research is, according to me, somewhat controversial, at least in more
deterministic forms of toponomy. We need to exercise caution when using this
information as a base for our interpretations, as it is sometimes difficult to
know exactly when a place was
named, and why. However, toponomy in
Sweden is based on profound research, both linguistic and historical, and it is
an intriguing material to use.

Beneath, I have selected some general
elements in place names, from different periods, and tried to analyse their
geographical patterns through the use of GIS. As I am quite the novice in the
use of place names in historical research, I ask you not to take this
analysis too seriously. The material used is heavily generalized, and a closer
investigation would be needed in order to use this in more serious research.
However, I think that even this shallow analysis have provided me with a nice
picture of the historical development of Bohuslän’s settlement patterns.

Prehistoric Place Names

A map showing prehistoric place names in Bohuslän. The white line marks the border of Bohuslän to neighboring counties.Blue: -by

Purple: -hem

Light green: -landa

According
to traditional toponomy, there are certain place names that can be traced back
to a pre-christian period. In Bohuslän, these are names ending with either “-by”,
“-hem” or “-landa”, e.g. “Svenneby”, “Solhem” or “Kavlanda”. The map shown above is made by
selecting present day communities with these elements present in their names. It
is clear that “-by” is the most common prehistoric element in Bohuslän’s place
names. We should also note, as seen in the map above, that inland Bohuslän is
quite devoid of communities with prehistoric place names. This might illustrate
that settlements, at least in the late iron age, were
shaped by the fact that most arable soils in this region are located close to
the coast. We can also assume that these rural communities, though mainly
agricultural, also considered fish an important part of their sustenance.

Medieval Place Names

Map showing settlement development in the middle ages. The white line marks the border of Bohuslän to neighboring counties.

Blue: Prehistoric names

Purple: -hult

Orange: -rud

Brown: -röd

Pink: -torp

Place names from the medieval period in
Bohuslän usually contain the elements “-röd”, “-rud”, “-torp” and “-hult”. Most
of the medieval names in Bohuslän contain the element “-röd”, referring to
cleared ground, and often cultivation. The map above shows a potential
development from prehistoric to medieval times, were most of the densely
forested area have been colonized. Usually, this phenomenon have been connected
to the population growth of the High Middle Ages which, along with
technological development, allowed previously quite uninhabited areas to be
settled. The initial expansion was halted in the middle of the 14th
century, with the outbreak of the Black Death and the following economical
decline, also in combination with the environmental change to what have been
called “The Little Ice Age”.

The redoubled amount of settlements seen in
the map should not be interpreted as a redoubling of the population during the
High Middle Ages. Most of these new settlements were small, lacking the more
extensive farmlands found in older communities. Perhaps, we can connect this
new settlement pattern to an increased use of the forest itself, but this
requires further investigation. Timber was important trade goods in medieval
Scandinavia, but whether the settlement expansion in Bohuslän is connected to
this, we cannot at the moment tell.

Karlsborg and Place Names

Place names around Karlsborg

Blue: Prehistoric names

Brown: -röd

Pink: -torp

This
investigation has not clearly shown any connection to the region around
Karlsborg. We cannot observe any community name in the immediate area
containing the historic elements under study. The closest settlements are
Svenneby, Smedseröd, Skogby and Allestorp, all presumably existing
simultaneously with the castle and within a 8km radius.. However, they do not
indicate any certain importance connected to the location of Karlsborg. This
might be explained by the fact that we have excluded many historic places in
our investigation (important places such as Dynge, Apelsäter, Hallinden and
Vettland are not included), where we have sought a general pattern rather than
interesting particularities. More local place names, among them the names of
rivers and natural features, should be taken into account when conducting a
more localized analysis.

If we ignore the above criticism, however
vital it may seem, we can assume that the region was not particularly important
or special in the High Middle Ages, and that the importance can be connected to
the later middle ages. Many of the place names in the investigation above
defines settlements founded in the initial expansion of the earlier middle
ages, and the pattern may have
changed during the later middle ages. If the area around Karlsborg had been
previously unimportant, it would explain why the site was not extensively
fortified until the middle of the 15th century. This, at least in a
very generalized way, supports the idea of seasonal fishing, caused by a
herring period, as a foundation for the importance of Hamburgsund and
Karlsborg. While written history does not support this theory, it is not
unlikely. Maybe be the lack of documentation of this period can be traced to a
high degree of international activity in the area. More on this in coming
posts!

That was
all for now! As usual, you are more than welcome to share your thoughts and
ideas on the topic discussed. If you found this post interesting, feel free to
leave a comment!

About me

My name is Oscar Jacobsson and I am a graduate student at the department of Archaeology and Ancient History at Lund University in Sweden.
This blog is dedicated to the discussion of medieval landscapes in many different ways, though my main interest lies in the relationship between natural and human landscapes. Therefore most of the published material will concern this subject.
Feel free to contact me on:
oscarjacobsson@live.com